


Close Enough

by 14dinocats



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 02:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/14dinocats/pseuds/14dinocats
Summary: Albus is in love with Scorpius, but Scorpius is his best friend. Scorpius is also having nightmares from when they traveled to the traumatising alternate timelines. Albus feels guilty because it was his idea to time travel in the first place, but now Scorpius can't sleep. What if ......they were to sleep.... in the same.....................bed.....?It's a bed sharing post canon fix-it! Read this if you liked the Cursed Child as an elaborate fan fiction but want to know why they inexplicably made it hetero at the end.





	Close Enough

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the Cursed Child play and I thought it was really good! But that shit ain't canon. I basically think that it's just a large budget fanfic. It was so close to being a really really good story, but then they pulled that no-homo at the end and I was like :(. Scorpius and Albus have a very good relationship, lets let them actually have it. So I wrote this a couple months ago and I'm still not totally happy with the editing, so I may come back and fix it up, but it's good enough for now. I hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> Also one of my pet peeves is when time-travel in fiction doesn't make sense, and the Cursed Child is a perfect example of that. This doesn't relate to this story at all, I just want you guys to know that we deserve better than nonsense time-travel plots.

Albus wasn’t sleeping well and it was making him grumpy. Flashes of light had been rousing him several times throughout the night for the past two weeks, since he got back from 1981. It felt like every time Albus was on the brink of deep, healing sleep, the lights would come, pulling him back to sharp consciousness. The most annoying thing was that these lights would always disappear before he was fully awake, and Albus could never figure out where the hell they came from. He would find himself sitting in the dark with his eyes wide open at some ungodly hour of the morning, completely unable to fall back asleep. Albus closed his eyes and tried to relax, but the Scorpius’s breathing sounded strange. It was unsettling. Albus had the urge to go over there and - he didn’t let himself finish the thought. He and Scorpius weren’t the hugging type of friend. They didn’t go over to each other in the middle of the night just because their breathing sounded slightly weird. If they started overreacting to that kind of thing they were never going to spend a minute apart. They’d be glued to each other. Albus might like the idea of getting to spend every second by Scorpius’s side, but it didn’t do anyone any good to think about it. Scorpius had Rose now. Albus’s two best friends were going to shack up and be happy forever, and that was great. That was really really good, and he was super happy for the two of them. It wasn’t just the sleep deprivation that was making Albus grumpy. He was exhausted with the continual effort of pretending to not be in love with his best friend. Two weeks ago, Scorpio asked Rose out for the first time. There hadn’t been any more courting attempts that Albus was aware of, but he might have just blocked out the memory as self preservation. He was finding it harder and harder to keep being a good friend, a kind friend, when he knew that Scorpio would never feel the same way about him. It hurt, sometimes, for Albus to even think of the kindness that Scorpio had shown him. They way he hadn’t judged Albus on his dad, or his brother, or his external prickliness. Albus was aware that he was not easy to love, and aware that Scorpius might have been his best shot. Albus lay awake, thinking about how he couldn’t even think about his best friend. Listening to said best friend’s breathing hitch and rush and murmur in sleep. Albus was starting to hate Scorpius. His tired and irrational mind insisted that it was completely unfair that Scorpius should be able to sleep when Albus was awake and angry. Scorpius yelped. He sounded like a lost child, scared. Albus immediately stopped hating him.  
“Albus!” Scorpius cried out.   
Did he really just say Albus? Was is wishful thinking? Why would saying Albus’s name make Scorpius sound so sad? Albus stared at the rich and traitorous green of the canopy over his bed. Scorpius’s breathing was strange again, fast and frightened. Albus heard him take a few long settling gasps. He tried not to think about what he would do if they were the hugging type of friends. Scorpius’s feet hit the floor.   
“Lumos” he breathed, before pulling back the canopy and shining a light into Albus’s open eyes.   
“What the fuck are you doing?” Albus said, his annoyance at being sleep deprived meant he didn’t immediately register the way Scorpius’s eyes were sort of shiny, the way his face was sort of afraid.   
“Uuuuhh I-“ Scorpius gestured awkwardly.   
“Have you been waking me up every night?” Albus demanded.   
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry- “  
“I’ve told you that I’ve been woken up by weird light. You knew this was messing with me.”  
“I know, I know. And I wouldn’t have- but- I just” Scorpius interrupted himself, wringing his hands.   
Good friends give each other a hard time. Best friends let each other off.   
“What’s wrong?” Albus asked. “Are you alright?”   
Scorpius’s mouth opened wordlessly a few times. “I’ve just been having dreams.” he finally admitted.  
“What dreams?” Albus asked brashly, before realising that it might not be his to know.   
Scorpius didn’t seem to mind though. His face was gently illuminated by the light of his wand. The silver glow made his pale hair look like a halo and Albus reflexively noticed how beautiful he was.  
“You know when I went to the other timeline, and you didn’t exist?” Scorpius looked to Albus for encouragement. Albus nodded seriously.   
“I just keep thinking I’m back there. And when I wake up I’m never sure if this is the dream or if that’s the dream, so I just have to check. To make sure you’re still here.”   
Albus suddenly found his breath coming in shorter. He felt guilty for having made a big deal out of it. He felt guilty that there was a whole other world where Albus wasn’t there for Scorpius. He knew logically that not being born was a pretty good excuse for not being friends with someone, but he was still sorry.   
“Albus, say something.” Scorpius had never sounded so nervous. Albus hated it, and needed to make him sound happier. He needed to say something, quickly.  
“Oh,” Albus said stupidly, and immediately kicked himself for not being able to come up with any better words.   
“I’m sorry.” Scorpius said “I won’t wake you up anymore. I can wait till morning”  
Albus grabbed his arm as he tried to move away, “No, no, no. That’s okay, I get it. I just wish you could do it with less light.”  
“Oh” Scorpius said, looking at where Albus was holding his wrist. Albus quickly removed his hand.  
“I’m just so tired.” Albus said, slumping back into the pillows  
Scorpius sighed. He sat down on the far edge of Albus’s bed and closed his eyes, all the fight gone out of him.  
“I’m tired too.” he said.   
Albus watched Scorpius’s resting face. He looked exhausted to the bone. How had Albus missed this? The dark circles under Scorpius’s eyes and the thin line of his lips. He hadn’t realised how much the other reality had stayed with him. Scorpius hadn’t seemed this upset when Rose disappeared. Or had he? Was that also part of why he was so tired?  
“Do you need to check on Rose every morning?” Albus asked.  
“What?” Scorpius opened his eye with a burrow of confusion between them.  
“Because Rose was never born in the other timelines. Do you need to check to make sure she’s here?” Albus clarified.  
“Oh.” Scorpius shook his head “No, I didn’t even think of that.”   
Albus scoffed “Some future husband you are. Don’t even care if she technically exists.”   
Scorpius didn’t take up the joke like Albus thought he would. Instead Scorpius smiled, small and sad.  
“Albus,” he said, “as long as you’re here, it’s okay. That’s all I need to know.”  
Scorpius flopped back onto the space next to Albus.  
Scorpius wanted to check on him, not Rose. Albus couldn’t help but read into that, couldn’t help but wonder if it meant that Scorpius also had to control the urges to reach out when they were together. Albus tamped down on the hope. Scorpius was his best friend and he was lucky to have him this way. It would be selfish to wish for more. (Albus wished for more anyway.)   
“Knox” Scorpius whispered quietly to his wand, and they were in a world of gentle darkness.   
Albus had imagined Scorpius lying in the same bed every night since he was twelve. And now Scorpius was here, and he didn’t know what to do. He had never imagined it being quite so tense.  
“I’ll go back to my bed in a minute.” Scorpius breathed into the night.  
“It’s okay.” Albus said hurriedly.   
Scorpius closed his eyes and his breathing evened out. Albus watched his face from the other side of the bed and told himself that the two feet between them was close enough. They went to sleep like they always did, listening to the sounds of one another’s breathing. 

\--------------------

Scorpius always had the first shower in the dorm. Albus woke up to the sound of running water and tried to tell himself that he hadn’t been hoping to wake up with Scorpius still in his bed. That would be ridiculous. That would be the sort of high hopes that could kill when they fell on top of you like a gargoyle from the astronomy tower. Even with that minor disappointment (definitely minor, only a minor disappointment, if it is a disappointment at all) Albus felt better than he had in ages. He got dressed in the empty dorm and met Scopius down at breakfast like normal. He could tell that Scorpius felt better too. The shadows under his eyes were gone, he paid more attention in class and his head wasn’t drooping by the time they got to pudding at dinner. When they got back to their dorm, Albus found himself unable to speak. He got into his pyjamas and lay on the farthest edge of his bed, leaving a wide space next to him for Scorpius. Scorpius came back from brushing his teeth and looked between their two beds. He clearly was expecting some sort of invitation.   
“Look, if we both got more sleep last night then you should just sleep in my bed again tonight. It’s practical, it’s a business arrangement” Albus didn’t say this. He didn’t even say:  
“All I want is to be close to you, so please, just lie down next to me, please just let me have these few dark hours.”  
Albus was not a stupid person, and he wasn’t naive. He had always known how to say what he meant, how to use words to argue, and hurt, and get what he wanted. But Albus didn’t have the words for this. The best he could manage was a small smile, which Scorpius returned, but then he turned his back and pulled the curtains around his own bed. Albus was alone, and even with the coals in the fireplace in the corner, he felt immensely cold. 

\-----------------------------------

Scorpius was not a good person. He was the type of person who had never had a best friend to show him kindness, never had a mother to tell him “no”. Scorpius had invented torture devices and relished using them. No. No. That’s not right. Scorpius opened his eyes in panic and was greeted with the murky green of his curtains. This could be any of the timelines. He needed Albus, to prove that he was okay. Albus, who would rather make himself disappear from existence than watch Scorpius be hurt. Albus, who could always make him laugh, and who always believed the best of Scorpius. But it wasn’t fair for Scorpius to go over there again and wake him up. His stupid pathetic brain making stupid nightmares wasn’t a reason to annoy his sleeping friend. Scorpius lay there. He turned onto his right side, and then onto his left. The problem was, if he was in the bad timeline he really shouldn’t be wasting time sleeping. There were probably muggleborns in being tortured to death right now. Scorpius told himself he was being stupid, then told himself that Albus would actually probably prefer to know if he didn’t exist anymore, and anyway, Scorpius could check on Albus without waking him up. He let his feet quietly touch the floor and pulled back the curtain to watch the sleeping form in the next bed. The sensible part of Scorpius sighed in relief. Here was Albus, whole and undamaged. It would all be okay. The stupid part of Scorpius, which turned out to be the part in charge of decision making, argued that he couldn’t see the face, so that could be anyone lying in Albus’s bed. Scorpius needed to see Albus’s face to make sure it was him. His heart rate picked up at the panicked thought that the world might still be wrong. But Albus had asked Scorpius not to use light so that he wasn’t woken up. Scorpius decided that if he got close enough to Albus’s face, even in the dark, he would be able to confirm that it really was his best friend lying there. He crawled gently onto the bed, trying not to mess up the blanket, and leaned towards Albus slowly.   
“Scorpius,” Albus mumbled into his pillow  
“Yes?” Scorpius whispered, startled.   
He had not expected Albus to be awake. He had not expected Albus to find him hovering over his prone body. He had not expected Albus to mumble into his pillow:  
“Lie down”  
“Oh, of course.” Scorpius knew he was being stupid. Albus had told him not to wake him up, but Scorpius hadn’t listened. He crawled away from Albus to go back to his own bed.  
“No,” Albus said, stopping Scorpius’s retreat “Lie down here.” he pulled the covers back for Scorpius to climb under. An invitation. An opening. What was so simple in the darkness had been impossible in the evening light. Scorpius climbed in because Albus asked him to, and because he really wanted to. This side of the bed was cool to touch, but Scorpius felt Albus’s warm presence from across the bed. Scorpius’s heart was beating stupidly and he tried to get it to calm down. He was sure that it was beating so hard it would be vibrating the bed, and Albus would be able to read what he was feeling like morse code. They lay together. Both made sure to keep to their own side, arms and legs carefully not touching. But when they slept their hands had other ideas. Ideas that had planted long ago and never had such a chance to come to fruition. Scorpius reached for Albus in his nightmare and was grounded in this timeline by their fingers intertwining. Scorpius woke up calmer and warmer than he had in weeks, or months, or possibly in his whole life. Albus wasn’t awake yet, he never woke up early. Scorpius took the liberty of running his thumb over Albus’s soft hand. He wanted more, he wanted everything of Albus, but this itself was a miracle to lie here, and Scorpius would be grateful. When Scorpius left the bed to go to the bathroom, he didn’t see that Albus was awake, or that he lifted the hand that Scorpius had been holding to his lips.

\-----------

At bedtime, Scorpius hesitated.   
“Are you going to have nightmares again?” Albus said, without looking up from the book he was reading.  
“Yes” Scorpius admitted quietly.  
“Will you be able to sleep if you’re here?” Albus faked nonchalance.   
Yes.” Scorpius was looking at Albus, trying to ask what this really means without having to use words.  
“Then come on.” Albus said.   
He shuffled to the side to make room for Scorpius, but aside from that, he gave nothing away. Albus put his book down and helped Scorpius to draw the curtains around the bed. They rolled and turned for a minute, getting comfortable, trying to be normal in their own bodies. They ended up facing each other, eyes open and glowing in the vague light of evening.  
“Goodnight, Albus,” Scorpius said, but he felt like he was trying to say something more.  
“Goodnight, Scorpius.” Albus replied.  
Lying there in the dimming light was strange. It made them less brave than when it was completely dark. Albus wanted to look at Scorpius. His face was so familiar, but Albus hardly ever got the chance to just look, without having to talk or listen at the same time. Scorpius’s eyes were open though, and Albus didn’t want him to think that he was being creepy and staring, so albus closed his eyes and tried to get his muscles to relax in sleep. Albus tried to revel in Scorpius’s nearness instead of wanting more, instead of wondering what it would be like if they were even closer. Albus thought about Rose, about how Scorpius wanted Rose. He turned away from Scorpius, so that he would not try to reach for something that was not his. With space between them, they fell asleep. 

Albus woke in the morning, instead of the middle of the night. That was the first good thing. The second was that Scorpius was cuddling him. An arm and a leg curled around Albus’s body, Scorpius’s head next to Albus’s ear, a soft breath onto his neck. Albus never knew that getting what you wished for was terrifying. He closed his eyes and told himself that it was a dream, so that he could enjoy the pretend Scorpius instead of feeling like he was taking advantage of real Scorpius. It was a wonderful dream. Albus felt calm and warm and loved. It was dangerous to think it. He breathed and let himself be held. After a perfect eternity, after the briefest few seconds had passed, Scorpius woke up. Albus felt him tense when he realised what they were doing, how they were lying. Scorpius left the bed without a word, then went straight into the bathroom to shower. They didn’t speak about it after, when the bright morning sunshine and the stresses of class made their faces tight and old, so different from how they were in the night. But that night Scorpius didn’t need to be asked, he would take embarrassment over the nightmares, he settled into Albus’s bed like they’d been doing this for years. The next morning Scorpius was the little spoon. The morning after that Albus was. They woke up different ways, but always together. Safely together. They never talked about it. They disentangled and Scorpius took the first shower, and they collectively forgot that the whole thing happened until evening, when Albus offered closeness, and Scorpius took up the invitation. 

—————————

Albus saw Scorpius arching and screaming, his eyes streaming. Delphini was laughing and laughing and Albus couldn’t reach Scorpius. No matter how much he tried to struggle and yell. Scorpius was in pain and Albus had left him alone in it. Albus’s white panic made the world look two dimensional. He knew that Scorpius was going to die, going to die in pain, going to leave him,and there was nothing he could do about it.   
“Scorpius. Scorpius!” Albus yelled.   
“I’m here, I’m here” came Scorpiuss gentle voice from close by.   
Wait. That didn’t make sense. Albus woke up and the tortured Scorpius disappeared. He was replaced with a concerned but unharmed Scorpius in his bed.   
“Scorpius!”  
“It’s okay.” Scorpius said. “Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe” Albus thought he could get addicted to how caring Scorpius sounded. Then Albus realised that he had probably just woken Scorpius up. And where Albus had acted with annoyance, Scorpius was being patient and kind.   
“I’m sorry.” Albus said.   
“No it’s okay.” Said Scorpius.   
Albus breathed deeply and found that his hands were clenched in Scorpius’ pyjamas. Felt Scorpius running soothing hands down his back.  
“Sorry” Albus said again, but he didn’t move, couldn’t even think about moving, could dare to let go of Scorpius when he had just been so unreachable.   
“Were you having a bad dream?” Scorpius asked.   
“Yeah” Albus said, reluctant to bore Scorpius with the details. “I haven’t had any dreams that bad before.”  
“What… I mean you don’t have to tell me, but-“ Scorpius back-pedalled.   
“It was when Delphini was torturing you,” Albus suddenly found it impossible to keep to himself. “and I thought you were going to die, and there was nothing I could do, and I just kept trying to reach you but you-“ Albus’s voice broke off.   
“Hey, it’s okay. We’re okay now” Scorpius said.   
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”  
“I’m not. It makes me feel less like a freak if you’re also-“  
“Traumatised by our own stupid actions?”  
“Yes” Scorpius admitted.   
“I’m so sorry I put you through that” Albus said.  
“You didn’t.” Scorpius assured him.   
“It was my idea to meddle, I shouldn’t have-“  
Scorpius interrupted “Delphini was a manipulator. And it’s not your fault you thought she was cute.”  
It was incorrigible that his apparent crush on Delphini was being brought up. Scorpius’s hands were on his back, they were lying eye to eye. With the mention of Delphini, Albus remembered that this was just an arrangement of convenience. Scorpius felt very far away once more.   
“I didn’t actually have a crush on her,” Albus said.   
“Didn’t you?” Scorpius scoffed.   
“No. I wanted to have a crush on her. I thought it could be convenient, but I didn’t actually”  
“Huh. sounds kind of like my thing with Rose” Scorpius shrugged.   
Albus’s brain ran a mile ahead. A small part offered up stupid, painful hope. Albus crushes it down.   
“It’s not the same at all.” Albus explained “I didn’t even like Delphini and you’re in love with Rose”  
“Nah” Scorpius closed his eyes and brought his hands back from touching Albus. Their absence was intolerable.   
“Yes you are” Albus pushed.   
“I’m really not in love with her” Scorpius said  
“But you keep going on about how you’re going to wear her down”   
“They’re jokes. It’s funny”  
“No it’s not. You’re serious.” Albus insisted despite himself.   
“If I was serious I would keep asking her out.” Scorpius countered.   
“You just asked her out two weeks ago”  
“And when she said no, you know what I felt?”  
“What?”  
“Relief.” Scorpius sighed and turned away. Albus wanted to claw him back, to force him to explain. To crunch down the little bubble of hope before it became big enough to get lost in.   
“You’re not in love with Rose?”   
“No, Albus. Not Rose.” Scorpius sounded tired.   
“Oh” Albus said. Something in his voice must have sounded lonely, because Scorpius said  
“Come here” and pulled Albus to his chest. Albus heard Scorpius’s fast heartbeat. He decided to say nothing, not tonight, not when it was enough to wrap himself around his best friend.

—————-

“My cousin’s baby’s come early!” Scorpius burst into the common room on a Friday afternoon in late November, holding a parchment in his hand and grinning broadly.   
“Wasn’t it due next month?”  
“She! It’s a she! A little girl.” Scorpius said “And yeah, it was meant to come during winter break.”   
“That’s so exciting!” Albus said.  
“And dad told me we’re going to visit her this weekend.”  
“This weekend?”   
“I’m going to floo home tonight”   
With midyear exams around the corner it was unusual for any kids to leave Hogwarts on the weekends. Everyone was studying in the libraries and bunkered next to fireplaces.   
“But what about studying?” Albus said.  
“I’ve been studying for months for these exams. And I’ll bring my flashcards home with me, and I’ll still probably be top of all my classes.”  
“What about helping me study?” Albus asked.  
“You know how to study. I’ll leave my charms notes for you to look over if you’re really worried.” Scopius patted Albus on the shoulder then headed to the dorm.   
“I have to pack!” he called over his shoulder.  
Albus resisted the urge to follow Scorpius and sit on his trunk so he couldn’t pack anything, so he couldn’t leave. Albus had been sleeping so well now that they were sleeping in the same bed, he suspected he would not be as peaceful if his friend were miles away. Even more selfishly, Albus was getting used to being close to Scorpius. When they lay down to sleep, Albus got drunk on the sounds of Scorpius’s breath relaxing. Hogwarts without Scorpius was lifeless, friendless, and full of bad memories, and it would be that way for the whole weekend until Scorpius returned. For the first time in his school life, Albus wished it was Monday.

\------------

Albus slept terribly, as predicted. The space on the mattress next to him was cold and painful. The silent dorm buzzed with the absence of Scorpius’s breath. Albus lay fruitlessly in the dark, then got up when the sky was filled with pale grey clouds to try to study. He spent all of Saturday in the library with Rose, but he was so grumpy that she sent him out of the library in the late afternoon with the instruction to  
“Whine where I can’t hear it.”  
Albus missed Scorpius. It had only been 24 hours since he’d left Hogwarts, but the day had been lonely. Albus just wanted to make Scorpius laugh, see his concentrating face bent over a book, and more than anything, to lie next to him as he slept. Albus went to bed early to try to make up for the awful sleep the night before, and he managed to drift into a dose due to his exhaustion. He was still half awake when he heard the dorm door open noisily. Albus kept his eyes closed and rolled over. He wasn’t roused by the sound of feet’s padding towards his bed, or the curtain being drawn back, or when he felt the mattress move with the weight of a body. A cool hand rested gently on the side of Albus’s face. Albus brought his own hand up to keep it there before he could think. Wait. This wasn’t how they did things. Albus opened his eyes and found Scorpius looking at him. He was so beautiful, bright eyes glowing in the dim light. With their hands wrapped up together, it felt like Scorpius had never been closer.   
“I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow,” Albus said, trying to sound normal despite his racing heart and dangerously high hopes.   
This couldn’t be real, could it? Could he get Scorpius in this way too?   
“I missed you,” Scorpius said.   
Albus saw it now, how Scorpius looked tired. He pictured too easily Scorpius lying for hours, wishing to be close to a body that wasn’t there.   
“Did something happen?” Albus said. “Why are you back-“  
“Albus” Scorpius cut him off. His thumb was smoothing the lines under Albus’s eyes. Scorpius looked frustrated. His mouth opened and closed a few times, like the words weren’t where he expected.   
“I missed you,” he finally said, “so I came back.”  
“I missed you so much,” Albus said. It felt like he was saying something else, making a confession.  
Scorpius came closer. His breath was warm but his eyes were hesitant. Albus knew that Slytherins could be as brave and stupid as anyone. He leant across the pillow and kissed Scorpius. It was everything he had been waiting for. Scorpius was there, warm and kind, and finally close enough, his hands on Albus’s face, neck, chest, back, and running through his hair. Albus pulled back.  
“Don’t leave again,” Albus said “Ever.”  
“Okay,” Scorpius agreed, “Don’t you leave either.”   
They kissed again, they talked, they kissed some more. When Scorpius yawned and Albus’s eyes closed for long seconds at a time, they slept. It was the same as all the nights they had done this, and different too. There would be many more nights just the same, reaching for each other, holding on, and never letting go.


End file.
